A newly drawn congressional map in Louisiana was struck down Tuesday by a panel of federal judges. They found that the new boundaries, which created the second-most majority Black district in the state, amounted to an “unacceptable racial segregation” that violated the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.
The 2-to-1 ruling now makes it uncertain which lines will be used in elections just six months away, and that could play a key role in determining the balance of power in the House of Representatives.
Critics warned that the decision could have broader implications for voting rights. Eric H. Holder Jr., a former U.S. attorney general and current chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said “the ideological nature of this decision could not be clearer.”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican, said Tuesday that the case could go to the U.S. Supreme Court. “I have long said that the Supreme Court needs to shed light on this issue,” she wrote on social networks.
The justices scheduled a hearing for May 6 to discuss next steps. The Louisiana Secretary of State has ordered the congressional map to be completed by May 15.
The new districts were outlined in January during a special session of the state legislature. Lawmakers were ordered to draw the new boundaries after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found that the previous map had most likely violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting power of Black residents.
But the new maps were brought before another panel of federal judges after a challenge by a group of residents scattered across the new congressional district who described themselves as “non-African American” voters. maps. They argued that lawmakers moved to “segregate voters purely based on their race” and to achieve that, they brought together “communities in far-flung parts of Louisiana ”.
The new majority-black district cuts across a long, narrow strip of land stretching from Baton Rouge, the capital at the tip of Louisiana, to Shreveport, in the northwest corner of the state. About 54 percent of the district’s population is black.
In Tuesday’s ruling, Justices David C. Joseph and Robert R. Summerhays, both of the Western District of Louisiana, acknowledged that factors other than race, such as protecting certain incumbents, were taken into account in this process. Even so, they said, it’s clear that creating a second district with a majority of Black voters is lawmakers’ overarching goal.
“The predominant role of race in state decisions is reflected in the statements of legislative decision makers, the division of cities and parishes along racial lines, the the district’s unusual shape and evidence that its contours are drawn to absorb sufficient numbers of majority-black neighborhoods to achieve the goal of a functioning black-majority district .”
The justices noted that the ruling did not decide “whether it is feasible to create a second majority black district in Louisiana that complies” with the Equal Protection Clause. But they added that the Voting Rights Act “never required race to dominate the drawing of congressional districts at the expense of traditional districting principles.”
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Carl E. Stewart of the Fifth Circuit held that the challengers had failed to prove that their constitutional rights had been violated.
“The entire record demonstrates that the Louisiana Legislature considered a variety of political concerns — including the protection of specific incumbents — along with race, without any factor,” he wrote. which factor prevails over the other.”
The ruling is the latest issue in a long-running legal battle over the shape of Louisiana’s congressional districts and comes as other Southern states have also been forced by courts to redraw district boundaries amid criticism. accusations of racism.
Louisiana is obligated to redraw congressional districts after the 2020 census to account for population changes. The census shows that the Black population in the state has grown 3.8% over the past decade, meaning about a third of the total population is Black. But in the map drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature, only one of six congressional districts has a black majority.
In June 2022, a federal judge found that The map was racist and illegally weakening the voting rights of Black voters. The judge ordered lawmakers to draw another district to give Black voters a chance to elect the candidate of their choice. But the controversial map is still being used in the 2022 election.
Other Southern states have as well was ordered to redraw the map Later an unexpected ruling by the United States Supreme Court last year in which the justices threw out Alabama’s congressional boundaries, finding that they did not adequately account for the state’s Black population. The ruling reaffirmed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which had been struck down for years by the court’s conservative majority.
Critics of Tuesday’s ruling argued that the consequences in Louisiana could extend beyond a single election, or even partisan divisions. Ashley Shelton, who leads the Powerful Coalition for Equity and Justice, part of the challenge to the original 2020 map, said she and others remain undeterred.
“We will continue to fight for a map that reflects our communities, honors the promise of the Voting Rights Act,” Ms. Shelton said, “and respects the voices of thousands of Louisianians who have Participate throughout the redistricting process. We have been clear from day one in calling for a fair and representative map.”
